The United Nations is rallying Asia Pacific countries to step up collective efforts in aquaculture and help shore up food security amid rising demand for fish products.
To support such efforts, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is helping kick off a 15-year action plan on aquaculture.
“Aquaculture is a critical sector in this region, which presently supplies more than 90 percent of world production,” FAO director general Hiroyuki Konuma said in a statement. “In total, aquaculture is responsible for more than half of all fisheries products we consume, and demand for aquaculture products is expected to increase.”
According to the FAO, aquaculture in Asia Pacific accounts for more than a fifth of the total protein intake of people living in the world’s most populous region.
The agency noted that, with heavy demands on natural resources, aquaculture in Asia is expected to face great constraints to sustain growth and meet the increasing demand for fish in the region and elsewhere in the world.
Such constraints include the impact of climate change and variability, urbanization and related social and economic changes, increasing intraregional trade and rising concern over the environment and food safety by the public.
“It is estimated that fish consumption in Asia and the Pacific will increase by 30 percent by 2030, and aquaculture production may need to increase by 50 percent during that time to meet rising global demand for fish,” Konuma said.
“With nearly two-thirds of the world’s 800 million chronically undernourished people living here in our region, the sustainable intensification of aquaculture can assist with future food security needs and access to improved nutrition for hundreds of millions of people,” he added.
Konuma said that in order to meet the increasing demand for fish, countries must promote sustainable aquaculture, while ensuring environmental sustainability.
He said this means “producing more with less”—increasing productivity and efficiency in aquaculture production while reducing consumption of resources, as well as mitigating the negative environmental and social impacts.